The Gender Bill is meant to
actualize Chapter 4 Article 27 (8) of our Constitution that addresses gender
inequality in our society; the provision requires the State to make a
legislation that will ensure that no more than two-thirds of the members of
elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender.
My opinion advises that like
the provision that created the position of Women Reps, Article 27 (8) was also
wrong in its conception; my opinion further advices that both provisions are
classic cases of putting the cart before the horse.
To any father who is proud of
her daughters like I am, the idea of gender equality is noble and should be
supported wholesomely; however, to use the plight of the millions of
marginalized women and girls for the purpose of benefitting a few within the
society is immoral.
In my opinion, any attempt at
addressing gender marginalization should focus on the girl child and not the
woman because each and every marginalized adult woman is the product of a
marginalized girl child; sort the problem at its budding stage and you won't
have marginalized women roaming around the country; it is a fact that a marginalized
old woman is irredeemably marginalized.
Lavishing already empowered
women doctors, professors, relatives of the powerful, etc with prestigious and
lucrative government positions, does not address issues affecting
the marginalized girl or woman in any way, form, shape or manner.
It will take the society as a
whole and especially the male folks, for our society to achieve gender parity;
a one-third strength in parliament can never force through any legislation; it
will only serve to add more to the already empowered; it takes broad consensus
to address matters like marginalization effectively and I believe that it only
takes one determined person to succeed in building consensus around an idea
whose time has come.
Let's not do things because Kagame
does; Kagame probably did it for very different reasons; maybe to cover up for
the absence of Hutu males in his parliament with a very enticing story of
gender equality.
And if it is a matter of
copying, why not emulate the US? The US has a much more advanced female society
than Rwanda despite the fact that the number of women in the US House of
Representatives is just about 10%; what the US has done is simply to focus on
the girl child; the US has an equal opportunity clause that ensures every
institution uses a 50/50 gender admissions policy in all institutions of
learning.
In my humble opinion, the real
empowerment in Africa for the girl child will come when medical schools, law
schools, engineering, etc, shall admit boys and girls on 50/50 basis; Africa
has the lowest levels of females in professional jobs and urgent steps ought to
be taken to correct this bad image.
For us to make any strides, we
must first appreciate the fact that the share of sacrifices the girl child has
made for the boy child are more than fair; that it is now the boys' turn to
sacrifice for the girl child; remember the girl child had to be exchanged for
"dowry cows" so that the boy child could finish education; she had to
opt out of school so that her brothers could be educated with the little that
old daddy could afford; also remember that a bright girl's future is more often
than not ruined by the very same boys, or an uncle and more so cruelly by a
rapist.
It is the girl who scored a B+
and dreamt of being a doctor, or the marginalized rural girl who is need of
school fees, or the vulnerable young mothers who have dropped out of school who
need an affirmative action bill on their various problems to be passed in
Parliament; not a bill to empower the
already empowered!
Once equal opportunity is
ensured for the girl child at the beginning of her life throughout to college,
she won't need anybody's help or advocacy in Parliament to get what she wants
in life including those parliamentary positions.
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